Inspection Detail

Inspection: 309091445 - Colville Indian Precision Pine Co.

Inspection Information - Office: Washington Area Office

Investigation Summary

On January 31, 2007, Employee #1, a millwright at a sawmill, along with a second millwright, was repairing a chain conveyor that loaded sawdust into a bin. The method of repair was to remove a link in the chain, as the conveyor tail spool had used up all the screw adjustment. Since it was midnight shift, the mill was not working and Employee #1 and his coworker did not lock out the conveyor at the motor control center. The day shift chipper operator came to work, checked the motor control center for locks, and did not find any. The day shift operator visually inspected the conveyor and chipper equipment and did not see any problems. The operator started the chipper and sawdust conveyor, but the sawdust conveyor tripped its circuit breaker. The operator reported the problem to the electrician. The second millwright had left the sawdust conveyor and was working on another problem in the mill. When the operator reported that the conveyor was not working, the second millwright checked and found Employee #1 caught in the conveyor. The second millwright reported the problem to the line supervisor who called emergency services after checking for vital signs. Employee #1 was killed by crushing injuries to the arm and head when he was drawn into the tail spool.

Keywords: HEAD, AMPUTATED, REPAIR, WORK RULES, CAUGHT BY, LOCKOUT, CRUSHED, MILLWRIGHT, CONVEYOR, SAWMILL